Shoe guru Tamara Mellon — who co-founded Jimmy Choo and exited in 2011 with a reported $135 million payout — said during a panel unapologetically titled “F–k Ups: The Mother of Reinvention” at Cannes Lions that she has always been up-front about her struggles.

“Whether it was getting fired from Vogue, going to rehab … the Jimmy Choo equity deal,” Mellon said, ticking off setbacks, “people can empathize with you when you’re being honest.”

Mellon later created her own brand in 2013, went into bankruptcy two years later and has since relaunched a new namesake company.

When it comes to making comebacks, Mellon says one can recover, but “it depends on what it is. Business issues, you can come back from that. You can always turn that around … The way you come back in my opinion is, don’t try and hide what you did. You have to take responsibility, you have to be honest.”

If she could go back, her advice to her 21-year-old self would be: “Ask for help. Get some great mentors and speak up. Don’t work yourself to death thinking someone’s gonna notice and reward you for it, actually speak up about it.” (Mellon filed a $4 million breach-of-contract suit against Jimmy Choo in 2016, but the case reportedly was dismissed in 2017.)